PRN Leadership : Together We Learn

On Sunday morning I was preparing for an upcoming presentation about our district’s journey toward the Energetic Learning Campus and educational change in general. I was scanning through some “old” keynote presentations (rather than re-invent the entire wheel) when I found one that I’d presented to our District Parent Advisory Council back in 2007.  This was before our community consultation conversations (“Today and Tomorrow”), the BC Education Plan, and certainly long before we came up with the idea of putting a campus of our high school into the Pomeroy Sports Center.

The presentation referred to the practical needs and challenges that our district was facing due to a lack of space and our growing numbers. However, it also mentioned the opportunities that this challenge provided.  It asked how we could build on our current successes to meet the needs of a new century as well as change the way many students viewed their school experience.

Below is one of my favorite slides. Sally (Charlie Brown’s little sister) and Linus are considering a dilemma:

The slide also included an audio clip of “Little Becky” calling to ask what it would take to have her school demolished. Click for a quick laugh: Little Becky – Demolition

The next slide asked, “How can we, as a system, change this way of thinking?”

Some suggestions were on another slide titled… “From the 20^th Century to the 21^st”.  (… way too much text for a slide these days, but it is a pretty good “from-to” list):

From “conforming”…    to “ingenious”,  from “stable”…    to “agile”,  from “one to many”…    to “peer to peer”,  from “retaining”…    to “critiquing”,  from “curriculum centered”…    to “learner centered”, from “delivered wisdom”…    to “user generated content”,  from “individual”…    to “community collaboration”, from “subject based”…    to “project based”, from “one-size-fits-all”…    to “personalized learning”, and…  from “teaching”…    to “learning”

(I find the list reaffirming.)

One of the last slides asked the following:

“Can we shape something that we may not live long enough to see happen?”

I wasn’t sure at the time, but I grow more optimistic every day.

Daniel Vecchio, past principal of North Peace Secondary School, drama teacher extraordinaire, and passionate public speaker will be back in Fort St. John to talk with some of our students during the first week of May.

He will also be presenting to parents and teachers at Bert Bowes Middle School on Wednesday, May 2 at 7:00 pm in the band room.  He will discuss how nurturing boys’ emotional health, especially in the classroom, must be foundational for all teachers and parents.  I believe you will enjoy Dan’s message and powerful stories. Please see the attached pdf: mystrengthflyer

Rick Hansen is going to be in Fort St. John on Wednesday.  Sadly, I am going to miss his visit but I did get the chance to talk to him on the phone last week.  He thanked me for the district’s part in planning his stop here and then we talked about being kids in Montney for a while.

Rick spent parts of his summers on his grandparent’s Montney farm and played fastball with our team while he was there.  He was the best player and probably the nicest guy (I’ve always said that the Man in Motion we’ve all followed for twenty-five plus years is absolutely as nice and as genuine as he seems).

He asked me about all of the guys who had played ball and he asked about their parents.  At one point he asked about my dad who had been the ball team’s coach back then.  I said that he would be 80 on his next birthday and that he was doing fine.  Rick said, “Your dad is an amazing guy”.

I phoned my dad later that night.  I told him that Rick Hansen thinks he’s amazing.  I think I made his day.

Where’s Montney???  Click here

My kids are all pretty good on the guitar. None took music in school or played in the band.  They can all read “tab” but not music. All three of them started with the two or three chords that I showed them and then, through practice, jam sessions with friends, and the internet, they’ve all gone on to surpass me.

Their learning has been hands-on, technology has played a major role, and they’ve had the opportunity to learn with friends.

I think more people are realizing that learning doesn’t have to happen in the traditional setting that most of us remember.  There are many opportunities for learning out there!

I hope that our system doesn’t get so bogged down in itself that we miss them.

The other day I read Seth Godin’s blog entry called “In search of a timid trapeze artist.”  I always enjoy his short posts but this one really resonated with me.  He points out “how painful it is to try to maintain the status quo while also participating in a revolution” and that “if you hesitate when leaping from one rope to another, you’re not going to last very long.”

Sometimes, when I’m frustrated, I literally feel that the collision between the school act, board policies, and union contracts, as well as human nature’s aversion to change, have taped our hands (with really good duct tape) inextricably to a rope called the status quo.  At other times, after listening to John Abbott, Sir Ken Robinson, Larry Rosenstock or our teachers, kids and neighbours at the Energetic Learning Campus, I feel that there is hope.

Flexibility is key.  Money would be nice, but without the flexibility to try new and varied ways to schedule, group, assess and teach kids (and each other), I’m afraid we’d just keep buying more of the same thing.

Risk taking is stressful… but without some risk takers at every level, I’m afraid that our hesitation will leave us dangling from a motionless rope while the world of learners completes what Clayton Christensen calls an “institutional bypass” and climbs aboard a rope that is swinging toward the future.  We have so many great teachers doing so many great things for kids… let’s give them the flexibility to reach their full potential.

Please take the time to respond to the BC Education Plan and share your ideas about how to let go of the rope.

We tweak school plans and achievement contracts every year.  Mostly we do this with an eye to fixing problems that we see.  For example, we see low test scores in one area so we implement strategies that will at least bring us back to the provincial average (so that we are not too embarrassed by the Fraser Institute).

I guess this is fine.  Problem solving is a good thing (especially if you are a pilot and your plane is losing altitude).  But what if we wanted to move beyond being simply as good as the average?… as good as the status quo?

We see people doing great things in our schools every day.  We’ve all seen, or been part of, great learning experiences.  Dialogue about the assets in our system (versus the deficiencies) will keep our focus on capacity building and not simply restoring the status quo/average.  What if we could go beyond being effective to being excellent?

This is a plug for the power of Appreciative Inquiry.  Please take some time to check it out.

With the current state of affairs in B.C. it would be nice if we could get past divisive conflict to compromise, but it would be so much better yet if we could get to collaboration.

(Barrett, F. & Fry, R. (2005). Appreciative Inquiry: A positive Approach to Building
Cooperative Capacity. Chagrin Falls, Ohio: Taos Institute Publications.)

Just prior to Christmas, Lesley Lahaye (my former partner-in-crime and now retired Assistant Superintendent) spent several hours visiting the Energetic Learning Campus with a Flip video camera.  Please download the 10 minute video (by clicking on the link below) to tour the ELC and to hear staff, parents and students speak about its uniqueness and about their hopes for its future.

www.leadership.prn.bc.ca/wp-content/lahaye-espe-co-creating-schools.m4v

If you would like to watch the video on YouTube please click here.

“It must be nice to be a superintendent… and have all that time to Tweet.”  I’ve heard this a few times and, maybe because I’m a sensitive guy, sometimes I just get the feeling that people (especially school administrators) are thinking it.

I was talking to a principal from another district while at a meeting in Vancouver a few weeks back.  We follow each other on Twitter and it was nice to meet face-to-face.  At one point he said, “I think it’s really cool that you have a Twitter account.  I can’t convince my superintendent that it’s worth the time.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if his superintendent said, “It must be nice to be a principal… and have all that time to Tweet.”

Personally, I think that Twitter is the best professional learning network that I have yet to be a part of.  Strangely enough, I still feel guilty if I check Twitter during the workday so most of my tweeting, re-tweeting and blog reading happens in the evenings and on weekends.  I am, however, beginning to realize that the learning and sharing is too important to relegate to late nights and early mornings.  I’m close (but not there yet) to building “twitter” and “blog” time into my regular working hours.

Chris Wejr (@mrwejr) wrote a great piece in the December issue of the BCPVPA’s Adminfo magazine called “On Becoming Connected”.  It outlines several reasons why social media has so much potential in the field of education.  In fact, the article makes so much sense that I may even Tweet a few times during the day without feeling guilty.

Check it out: Dec11AdminfoWejr

It has been an interesting fall. There have been many distractions… some good and some a bit of a nuisance. Regardless, I think the conversations about the inevitable and exponential change facing the education system are exciting. I don’t believe that there has ever been a more exciting, albeit challenging, time to be an educator.

I hope that everyone who works in public education (private too, for that matter) will use the Christmas break as a chance to spend time with the people most important to them. I also hope they make time to recharge for what will no doubt be a busy 2012.

All the best…

It seems that very often a well meaning, well read, and hard working group of school, district or provincial leaders become embroiled in the “Decide-Advocate-Defend” (D-A-D) cycle that Frank Barrett and Ron Fry describe.  These small groups of people, who have already completed their learning journeys, feel the need to defend their decision to those who have not. Their rationale for educational change, which has historically been based predominantly on issues such as completion rates, low exam scores and poor student behaviour, tends to put many key stakeholders into a defensive stance of their own. This deficit discourse and the D-A-D cycle leads to stories like ‘what’s wrong with the leadership?’ or ‘it’s just another power play’.  These stories become strong memories that cause negative associations with any future change programs, strategic planning efforts, or visioning processes.

The change process should not be a “forced march”, but a disciplined choreography of conversation, reflection, analysis and imagination among various parties.

This summer I heard Chris Kennedy describe blogging as a way to keep these kinds of conversations going.  He also suggested that using Twitter was a wonderful way to “amplify” comments, opinions and ideas.

Hearing Chris’ message loudly and clearly, both Dave Sloan (SD #60 Assistant Superintendent) and Stephen Petrucci (SD #60 Director of Instruction) have taken on the blogging and amplification challenge.  Both have created blogs that are pertinent to educational issues at the local, provincial and global levels.

Dave has shared opinions and research on topics such as the importance of sleep for learners, promoting positive mental health in schools, movies in the classroom, resiliency and, my favourite, “living and learning in interesting times”.  His blog can be found at http://educationmatters2.blogspot.com/ and you can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLSloan.

Stephen’s blog has been focusing on the concept of UDL (Universal Design for Learning).  In fact, in order to model UDL, he has been providing an audio tab for those who would rather listen.  His blog also includes links to LiveBinders that he has created… it can be found at http://petruccidoi.blogspot.com/  Follow him on Twitter too: @s1petrucci.

I believe that blogs like these will help us to avoid the “DAD” cycle that I mentioned earlier.  By taking the time to read them, students, parents and staff will have a sense of the conversations that are taking place in the district and around the province.  By taking the time to comment, they can actually take part in the conversations.

The only problem with Dave and Stephen’s blogs is that they make mine look bad.

By the way… I applaud the B.C. Ministry of Education for creating the “engage” tab on their B.C. Education plan website.  Please take part in the conversation.